In recent years, display screens with touch panels have been introduced not only into public facilities such as ticket-vending machines, but also into various kinds of information devices used by individual users including a personal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a remote control of a home electrical appliance such as a TV, and a high-functionality mobile terminal called a smartphone. Many of these information devices have sensors on or near their screens. A user performs an operation by directly touching a link or button represented by characters or an image displayed on the screen of the information device. Using the sensor, the information device detects an operation request from the user. Thus, the user can cause the information device to execute a desired process through an intuitive operation.
Processes performed by the user using the information device include, as a first example, posting an article on a personal blog site from a mobile terminal. This posting process includes changing the size of an image captured using a camera function of the mobile terminal, changing the color of the image such as turning the image into a sepia tone, editing such as assigning a tag which is a keyword, and sending an email message with the edited image attached.
Here, a mobile terminal with a general touch panel is provided with a hierarchical menu designed for touch-panel use, so as to receive a user operation. The user touches a menu icon, that is displayed on the touch panel, for activating a menu screen. Or, the user presses a button, provided on the body of the mobile terminal, for activating the menu screen. As a result of this, the mobile terminal displays the menu screen. Moreover, when the user touches an icon for activating the camera function that is displayed on the menu screen, the camera function is activated.
Next, image capturing is started by means of a shutter icon displayed on the touch panel or a shutter button provided on the body of the mobile terminal, and the captured image is recorded. After this, the following processes are sequentially performed on the captured image which is an operation target object. The user selects “Image Edit” from “Submenu”. Then, after selecting “Resize” from “Submenu” that is displayed again, the user selects “Desired Size”. Accordingly, the mobile terminal makes a size adjustment to the image. Then, after selecting a color change menu such as “Retouch Photo” from “Submenu”, the user selects “Sepia Tone”.
As a result, the mobile terminal performs the color change process on the image. Next, after selecting “Assign Keyword” from “Submenu”, the user enters a keyword which the user desires to assign or selects a keyword from among candidates. Then, after selecting “Send Email with Attachment” from “Submenu”, the user performs processes to, for example, “Select Destination Address” and “Enter Title and Text” through touch operations (or operations by means of button keys). In this way, in order to accomplish one purpose, that is, posting an article to a blog site, plural touch operations are performed in a repetitive manner.
Such operations are routinely performed by the user with full knowledge about the operations of the mobile terminal. However, since the menu screens are hierarchically structured, the screens to be displayed are large in number regardless of the introduction of the touch panel. As the depth of the hierarchy increases, the number of touches on the touch panel (or, the number of operations performed on the operation keys) by the user tends to increase proportionately. That is to say, the increased depth of the hierarchy may have an opposite effect on convenience to the user.
When wishing to sequentially execute the processes which are based on plural non-sequential functions, the user needs to know in advance, after selecting a menu icon, about a submenu from which a next item is to be selected. Thus, in fact, the hierarchical structure of the menu screens may result in inconvenience to a user who is not good at operating the device or who has less knowledge about the terminal functions. In addition, even a skilled user has to repeat the same operations routinely due to this hierarchical structure of the menu screens.
A first method to solve the stated problem in the first example is disclosed in Patent Literature 1. To be more specific, a predetermined icon of a processing-command execution area is displayed on a screen display unit. By manipulating a cursor using a touch panel or mouse, the user drags an operation target object (i.e., an icon) representing data such as an image which is to be an operation target, through the processing-command execution area. As a result, the mobile terminal can perform the process corresponding to this processing-command execution area on the data represented by the operation target object.
Moreover, parameter candidates (for example, image zoom ranges) may be set in advance for each processing-command execution area. With this, near the area through which the operation target object (i.e., the icon) passes, the corresponding parameter candidates can be displayed. Then, the user can select a desired value from among the displayed plural parameter candidates.
Also, a method of executing a process by means of a script or batch file is widely known. When using this method, the user describes in advance plural processes in order, which the user wishes the computer to sequentially execute, in one description file according to a description rule. Accordingly, the plural processes are executed in order.